New Channel Center Penthouse Loft For Sale

A new penthouse loft at Channel Center (25 Channel Center) just hit the market yesterday at $1,595,000 ($748.47/square foot). With over 2,100 square feet of living space, gleaming hardwoods, and soaring 21 foot ceilings, this is an exquisite three-bedroom, three-bathroom loft-style condo for sale in Boston’s Seaport District.

This unit has some of the classic features that a discerning loft buyer is seeking:

  • Multiple exposures
  • Channel Center Penthouse floor – dual entrances
  • 21 foot ceilings and 18 foot windows
  • Gas fireplace in the living room and master bedroom
  • Master bath features a glass enclosed shower and a large soaking tub
  • Gourmet kitchen
  • Elevator and concierge building
  • Two (2) garage parking spaces

As we’ve shared with clients, Channel Center, as well as Fort Point Place at 21 Wormwood Street, continue to have at least one or two solid listings that hit the market each month. If you are looking to move into the Seaport District to get in front of the investment wave, this may be your opportunity. Channel Center currently has 11 units on the market, contact us for details on the penthouse featured here, or any of the other units.

See all listings at the Channel Center condo development: Channel Center Listings (11.9 MB PDF).

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285 Columbus Lofts

The former Boston American Red Cross building at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Clarendon Street, on the border of Boston’s Back Bay and South End, is being redeveloped by Boston Residential Group into 63 high-end loft-style condos. Boston Residential Group is no stranger to working on landmark buildings, such as 360 Newbury, and they are quickly moving forward on the conversion of the former eight-story Red Cross building into what they are calling 285 Columbus Lofts.

285 Columbus Boston Lofts

The lofts at 285 Columbus add to a growing conglomerate of high-end new developments within a several block radius, including the Bryant on Columbus, the D4 condos, and the Clarendon Back Bay. 285 Columbus will add 55 market rate (which leads us to believe that there will be 8 affordable units – more information on Boston affordable housing) loft-style condos to the area, ranging in size from 753 square feet to 1,579 square feet, with prices ranging from the high $500’s up to approximately $1,500,000.

The units are slated to include high-end, sophisticated finishes, hardwood floors, large windows and high ceilings. The building has double loaded corridors with front units on Columbus Avenue, back units fronting the Hancock Tower, and back and side units on Clarendon Street. There will be nine (9) units per floor, along with extra storage in the basement.

Parking will be available behind the building at 131 Dartmouth Street – unfortunately, parking will be leased, however, 285 Columbus Lofts is negotiating exclusive long-term rates with the garage. A restaurant (name not announced yet) will occupy the 9,000 square foot commercial space on the ground floor. The tentative occupancy date is June 2008 – matching the Bryant on Columbus, FP3 Boston, and the Boston Mandarin Oriental (it’s going to be a busy June).

For more information on unit statistics, please see the 285 Columbus Lofts page at Boston Condo Guy.

Financial District Broadluxe Condos Back on Track

Just when you thought that Broadluxe was down for the count, it has picked itself up, swept away the dust, and is moving towards a November 2007 completion. The Broadluxe condo development in Boston’s Financial District fell on hard times earlier this year when it was foreclosed upon by TD Banknorth, at which time the building went dormant.

We captured the below picture back in late May 2007, when you could hear crickets on the job site at 99-105 Broad Street.

Broadluxe Boston Financial District Condos

Fast forward to the present, as TD Banknorth recently brought in Union Construction, a Boston-based company, to finish the buildout at the Broadluxe job site. According to sources at Union Construction, construction has resumed and TD Banknorth is paying their bills.

We’ve been on the job for about seven weeks now, and things are going perfectly. 34 units on floors two through six should be done in November,” says the job foreman from Union Construction.

We stopped by the job site, and despite not being let in because our hats were not hard enough, the guys at Union Construction were great. They spent some time talking with us about how the project has been going. Overall, they seem quite upbeat, and heads down on making units available for the November 2007 occupancy date.

The 10 units remaining on floors 7, 8, and 9 were to be left as open loft space, however, an architect has now been brought in to create plans in order to finish the units off. These latter 10 units are scheduled to be finished after the initial November 2007.

The Broadluxe Sales Office main phone number still goes unanswered, and Dana Wedge from TD Banknorth, did not return calls to provide the “owner” perspective. Should you be interested in Broadluxe, please contact us, we would be happy to keep you informed of the status and provide buyer representation in securing a reservation for a unit when TD Banknorth releases them to the market.

Broadluxe will round out the Financial District’s Broad Street, which already is home to Folio Boston and the 65 Broad Street Lofts.

Broadluxe Boston Financial District Condos

Battery Wharf Luxury Waterfront Condos

We have received quite a few requests regarding the luxury condo-hotel development at Battery Wharf on Boston’s Waterfront in the North End – unfortunately, there is not a lot of real time concrete information out in the market on this development, so we thought we’d shed a little light on the subject. Battery Wharf is continuing the tradition sparked by the Intercontinental Boston, the Boston W Hotel & Condos, the Ritz Carlton Towers, and others of a luxury condo-hotel lifestyle (i.e. you have the perks of staying at a five-star hotel, but you also have the feeling of home). The lifestyle and living choice is appealing to a broad spectrum of buyers, anywhere from young professionals to retired couples.

Battery Wharf, which sits at 377 Commercial Street near the foot of the North End’s famed Hanover Street along the Boston Harbor, is a mixed-use development featuring 104 hotel serviced residential condos, a 150-room luxury Regent hotel, an 18,000 square foot spa by Guerlain, a marina, a 7,500 square foot restaurant and bar offering Waterfront views featuring “Cuisine Extraordinaire” by three star Michelin chef Guy Martin, a 24-hour valet parking service available at several pickup and dropoff locations throughout the premise serving the 376-space garage, and a Coast Guard museum. Invite friends to visit via private water taxi service, which serves Boston Logan Airport in 7 minutes, as well as other destinations along the Waterfront.

The exclusive photo below was recently taken on the water in Boston Harbor. You can see that construction is moving along nicely with the development now looking quite similar to the architect’s rendering at the bottom of this post. Water taxi service will be around the corner from the right-hand pier outcropping, with the Coast Guard station being on the far right.

Battery Wharf Condos

Including the Regent Hotel, Battery Wharf will be comprised of four buildings and will feature a 300 linear foot marina. As the Improper Bostonian put it, this is truly luxe living at its finest. Staff at the Battery Wharf development say that condo room-service will even leave a mint on your pillow if you want.

Getting down to brass tax, here is the shakedown of the current status: the buildout of residential condos is approximately 75% complete, of the 104 condos at Battery Wharf, 55 are under Purchase and Sales Agreements, and the 56th unit is going under reservation next week, which means, there is a good selection of floor plans and options still remaining. Still available are units ranging in size from 974 square feet to 2,430 square feet, and in price from $1,150,000 to $3,200,000 – views, floor level, and size typically define the different price points in between.

The development is currently on schedule, units will be released to early buyers sometime during December 2007. For those on the back end of reservations, and for those who reserve now, you can plan for a January or February 2008 occupancy date. The Regent Hotel will aim for an early Spring grand opening, however, a final date has not yet been ironed out, they are, however, announcing the General Manager of the hotel sometime in the next two weeks (see recent Regent Boston Hotel at Battery Wharf General Manager announcement).

For more information, please contact us, we would be happy to arrange a visit to the sales center, and a first-hand look at what they are calling, Utopia Engineered.

Battery Wharf Luxury Waterfront Condos

Battery Wharf Condos

111 Beach Street Open House

Our Featured Open House for this week is 111 Beach Street #31, a $734,900 loft in Boston’s Leather District boasting 1,475 square feet and two bedrooms and bathrooms. This unit is one of nine (9) that are currently available at 111 Beach Street, which is a complex of 46 high-end Boston lofts with gleaming hardwoods and exposed brick and beams. Pets are allowed at 111 Beach Street, however, only one of each type of pet is allowed (i.e. one dog and one goldfish are ok, two dogs are not).

The open house is scheduled for Sunday, September 9, 2007 from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM. For more information on this unit, or any of the other Boston lofts that are available at 111 Beach Street, please contact us – for all your Boston real estate needs.

Channel Center Seaport District Condos & Lofts

Channel Center, a two-building condo loft development in Boston’s Seaport District, is seeing a lot of market action right now, with price changes and new units hitting the market over the past several days, there are now a total of ten available units across the development. The Channel Center development is steps from Fort Point Place at 21 Wormwood Street, and less than half a mile down the street from the new FP3 Boston development.

According to John Keith, around 2004, the Channel Center condominiums at 25-35 Channel Street opened. They did pretty well with sales (although a couple of units stayed on the market, for years). There were two buildings – a converted loft building and a brand-new, modern-looking one, next door. Many of the units in the new building were duplexes with great 20-foot high ceilings. The original developer, Beacon Capital Partners, had grand plans to redesign the entire street, currently made up of a mixture of low-rise industrial and office buildings (with a smattering of artist space, spaced intermittently along the street). They bailed out, last year. The residential sales market cooled (although prices did not), so they decided to pocket their profit and move on.

As reported on August 15, 2007, Commonwealth Center Holdings VAF secured $67 million, and is taking on the second phase of the 1.6 million square foot Channel Center project originally conceived by Beacon Capital Partners, rehabbing the remainder of the area with new housing, office, and retail. Work will commence immediately on renovating three brick buildings lining A Street known as 10, 20, and 30 Channel Center.

As mentioned, there are currently 10 available units (click on link to see listing details for all 10), and what we like about Channel Center in the Fort Point Channel area is the projected $67 million project that will lead to the completion of what was started back in 2004. What does this mean for current residents and potential buyers? Short to medium-term (as well as long-term) gains in equity.

Given the amount of development, money, infrastructure, and attention that the Seaport District is getting these days, this can only lead to positive things as it relates to condo and loft values.

Contact us for more information on any of the Channel Center units, as well as anything else across the city. We have access to every condo in Boston, and enjoy representing buyers.

The below photos were taken of 35 Channel Center Unit 301, which is now priced at $879,000 after a $20,000 price reduction.

35 Channel Center Condos

35 Channel Center Lofts

Bostonians Paid Too Much for iPhone

If you were one of the iPhone early adopters, reported by our friends at condoDomain back in late June, you are probably quite disgruntled by Apple slashing $200 off the price of their new gadget earlier this week. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, will be providing a $100 credit to “give something back” to the early adopter crowd (i.e. those who spent $599 on the higher end 8 GB iPhone).

Responding to a flood of emails complaining about a surprise iPhone price cut, Mr. Jobs apologized publicly and said Apple will offer a $100 credit at Apple stores to all iPhone users who paid the original price.

If you purchased your iPhone at the original $599 price within 14 days of Wednesday’s price cut, you are eligible to receive a $200 cash refund. Also note that Apple announced they will be discontinuing the lower end iPhone with 4 GB of memory.

Back to actual condo news later 🙂

South End Warren Avenue Condos for Sale

You may be familiar with the D4 Police Station condos that anchor the east end of Warren Avenue, but what else is available currently on this peaceful, well-lit, tree-lined street in the South End? In addition to the 8 remaining units at D4, one other Warren Avenue condo is on the market right now: 173 Warren Avenue Unit 3 (see South End Warren Avenue Condos).

A 1,080 square foot three-bedroom one-bath unit, 173 Warren Avenue hit the market in early June for $729,000, has gone through three price reductions, and is now priced at $629,000 – a whopping $100,000 off the original asking price. Priced at $582 per square foot for a sunny duplex in the northern part of the South End, it’s a a fair deal, bordering on quite good given the comparable sales over the past 6 months on Warren Avenue. If it’s so fair, or quite good, why is it still sitting there after its third price reduction? What happens quite often with properties like this, that are overpriced out of the gate, is that they get one look by agents and buyers and are passed over because they are, you guessed it, overpriced, never to be seen again (note to listing agents, oftentimes you only get one chance, don’t blow it).

173 Warren Avenue has southern exposure, and overlooks the private Carlton Park. A bonus (provided by the seller) to any buyer that comes to the table is the selection of new appliances to your preference, if that means a total Bosch kitchen, we don’t know, but, it’s always worth a shot, we’ll write it into an offer for you. To setup a showing (on 173 Warren Avenue, or the D4 Condos), please contact us.

173 Warren Avenue Boston, MA  02116

173 Warren Avenue Boston, MA  02116

Harborview Navy Yard Fails, Now Luxury Rental

The phone is dead at the sales office, and the plug has been pulled on what was slated to be a hot new condo development in the Charlestown Navy Yard. Thank you to the Boston Biz Journal for recently reporting that Harborview at the Navy Yard, which was to be a 224-unit condo development scheduled for a September 10, 2007 opening, has completely changed direction from being a for-sale development, and now will become a luxury rental property.

With mortgage markets tightening nationwide and local housing sales continuing their slowdown, we determined that the best direction for the project is to reposition the property as an upscale rental building,” said Joseph Torg, a principal with Trammell Crow Residential (the project’s lead developer), in a statement.

We spoke with the Sales Director at the Harborview sales office in mid-June, and we received the thumbs up that everything was progressing nicely, hard-hat tours were taking place with prospective clients, they were on track for a September 10, 2007 opening, and 20% of the units were under reservation. As of today, the sales office main phone number is no longer in service, and any and all mention of Harborview has been pulled from the Boston MLS.

Harborview Navy Yard Condos

Other recent Boston condo development projects with similar reservation levels around the 20% mark have not experienced the same”luxury rental fate” – take Penny Savings Bank for instance, which is well past its July opening, and still, only 6 of its 23 units are sold and there is no mention of changing course.

One of the significant difference between Harborview and other developments that are willing to stick it out in the current market is size (number of units). Harborview at the Navy Yard is a 224-unit monster of a development, nothing else that has hit the market over the past year (or let’s say after the “credit crunch” that is being stoked at every opportunity) compares to it.

However, larger Boston developments have thrived in the past several years, even those that are in Charlestown. The 2005-built Parris Landing, just a stone’s throw from Harborview, boasts 367 units – 21 resale units are on the market currently, ranging in price from $289,000 to $920,000. One Charles (Back Bay / Midtown area), with 232 units, built in 2004, currently has 8 resale units available priced between $795,000 and $2,395,000.

Ultimately, it’s a case of development size and market timing that has given Trammell Crow cold feet about moving forward with Harborview as a for-sale property. Simply put, they had little confidence that they could sell the 180 units that remained in a reasonable timeframe given their impression of the Boston (Charlestown) real estate market (or perhaps that is their real problem, they too have bought into the idea that city center condos are akin to residential suburbs and pan-US housing, which is wrong in theory and when looking at the numbers).

The fate of Harborview does, unfortunately, put into question upcoming “super” developments such as Avenir Boston and The Clarendon Back Bay, two large-scale projects with 241 and 400 residential units respectively, with construction already started, they are both poised to hit the market with occupancy by 2010.

New South Boston Condos at Leachmore Point

South Boston will have a new gateway building breaking ground in 2008. The makers of Court Square Press and the Macallen Building, Pappas Enterprises, has obtained approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority to move forward on a 64-unit condo development that will sit above the existing Broadway Red-Line T-Stop at the entrance to South Boston after crossing the Broadway Bridge. The new South Boston development will be called Leachmore Point.

Sitting at 11 West Broadway, Leachmore Point will be architected as a brick and glass eight-story structure, a creation of Margulies & Associates, a Boston-based architecture and design firm. The new Leachmore Point building will sit at the corner of Broadway and Dorchester Avenue across from the existing 2004 Court Square Press condo development, and the recently opened Macallen Building – Phase I and II of Pappas’ vision for the Broadway T-Stop area.

Leachmore Point Condos

The project will consist of 64 residential units, including 4,700 square feet of first floor retail (3 retail spaces), along with 69 underground parking spaces.

Sources estimate that ground will break on Leachmore Point sometime during the spring of 2008, and they will shoot for an 18 month construction cycle, which puts an anticipated occupancy date into late 2009. Leachmore Point will offer one, two, and three-bedroom units, with a range of 850 to 1,400 square feet, as well as four penthouse condos that will boast stunning views of downtown Boston, the Fort Point Channel in the Seaport District, and Boston Harbor.

Leachmore Point will be entirely green, everything that Pappas does moving forward will be green construction. Leachmore will be a boutique luxury development, with a fabulous redesign of the Broadway T-Stop,” says Marsha Yamaykina of Pappas Enterprises.

Similar to the Macallen Building (Boston’s first LEED certified condo development), the roof at Leachmore Point will be green – in plan is a 2,000 square foot pocket park, creating a green view for the neighbors living in the condominiums carved out of the old St. Peter and Paul’s Church, which sits across a small parking lot from the anticipated site of Leachmore Point. Other green features of the new development will include cisterns that collect rainwater runoff for irrigating the roof-level park, Zipcars, bicycle racks, and LED lighting that uses a photovoltaic energy system.

Leachmore Point will join the Lofts at 36 A, Allele Boston, Macallen Building, 125 B Street Lofts, 80 A Street, and Court Square Press in a complete redevelopment of the northern side of South Boston. The Broadway T-Stop area of South Boston now joins its sister neighborhood, the Seaport District, as one of the hottest areas of Boston real estate.